


Reassemble

by notjustmom



Series: After Titan [5]
Category: Avengers, Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, Missing Scenes, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-09 22:04:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18646990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: Tony and Natasha after Tony's return.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> “You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”  
> ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“Pepper, are you - ?” Natasha didn’t finish her sentence as Pepper leapt from the table and made a beeline to the bathroom. She remembered how rough Laura’s first trimesters were and wanted to try to help Pepper somehow without being a nuisance. She got up from the table and searched the cabinets for crackers, when she heard a sound from the speaker that was connected to Tony’s room. “Hell.”

She looked for Rhodey, but he was probably on the phone again as he usually was these days, ever since Tony and Nebula had returned from Titan. She hadn’t spoken to him, hadn’t even tried to, and Pepper was understandably protective of him. He had been hurt enough. She watched him struggle in the sheets and finally decided to risk it.

“Tony? It’s me, Nat.” 

He opened his eyes and gazed up at her. “Blonde’s a good -” he coughed, then tried to sit up, but gave up. Nat picked up the water bottle next to the bed and held the straw to his lips, and waited for him to finish. “ -color on you,” he whispered, then closed his eyes again. “Sit? Please?”

She sat, but found herself at a loss. “I - you. You shouldn’t have -”

“I shouldn’t have, what, Romanov?”

“Been alone.”

“Wasn’t.”

“All you had was -"

“His name was Peter.” 

She saw a flash of irritation in his eyes for a split second that quickly evaporated as he scanned the room, then whispered, “Pepper?”

“Bathroom.”

“Pregnant.” Natasha nodded and watched his face come to life slowly. He was still on the pale side, but he had finally started to catch up on his sleep probably for the first time in his life, and was slowly regaining some of the weight he had lost. “I knew before she did. The day before - I had a dream, a little girl.” He gazed at her for a moment, and she could tell he was making a decision, she saw the machinery going in his eyes and held her breath. “Clint?”

Tears sprang to her eyes, as she wasn’t expecting him to care, considering everything he’d been through. “He’s - he lost everyone, Laura, all three kids, Tony, he’s gone off the reservation. I’m tracking some incidents, not sure -” Tony reached out a hand to her and she held it carefully. “None of it is your fault -”

Tony shook his head and rasped out bitterly, “I saw it, been seeing it since the Chitauri invaded. No one heard me. It was my fault because I failed to make you see. You guys stopped trusting me a long time ago, if you ever did.”

“Shit.” She covered her mouth with her other hand and tried to turn away. “I -”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m done. I got nothing, Nat. No ideas. Nada. We lost. End of story. Once I can walk on my own, Pepper and I are gone, she’s found a place, on a lake -” she watched as he closed his eyes and he drifted off back to sleep.

“Natasha?” Pepper asked quietly.

“Sorry. I heard him over the monitor, and no one was around. I didn’t mean to upset him.”

“It’s the most he’s said since he’s been back. Thank you for sitting with him.”

Natasha shook her head and she realized she was still holding onto his hand. “I shouldn’t have let them go, should have known it was a trap. I tried - I thought. It shouldn’t have - I’m sorry, Pepper.”

“I let him down, too, Nat - oh damn…” she held her hand over her mouth and ran from the room.


	2. “The best mirror is an old friend.”  ― George Herbert

Tony rubbed his eyes, and turned his head to see Natasha sitting in the chair next to him, arms crossed, her chin tucked down, and he could sense how long she'd been sitting there by the clothes she was wearing, and their state of rumpledness. He watched her for a moment and he realized he'd never actually seen her sleep before that moment. She was always moving, even when she was still, he could sense her vibrating, always ready for what was next. He cleared his throat and swore as she jumped.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up."

"No, it's fine. I didn't mean to fall asleep." She covered a yawn with her hand and raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Just realized I'd never seen you sleep before. I mean, I know that you do, you must, I just -"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. You actually seem more human now, that I know you can." She looked away then bit her lip. "I'm sorry. For what I said, at the hospital - it was mean."

Tony snorted, then looked at her for a moment. "You've always been an enigma, Nat, was never quite sure where I stood with you. I don't have a lot of friends, but I think, I've always thought you were in my corner, from when you were first installed in my company, I know I was just a mission to you - but I like to think that we always had each other's back?"

"Yeah, course. I always knew - you'd be there if I needed you, I wish -."

Tony nodded and cleared his throat again, and swore as a tear slipped from his eye and slipped down his cheek. "It was better that you weren't there, nothing you could've done. I lost him, Nat. I was holding him, trying to make him stay, and I laid him down, trying to make him more comfortable, I guess, and he actually apologized to me before he turned to dust. He apologized to me. Wasn't a damn thing I could do. I failed, Nat. I don't blame any of you, not really. Even if we'd been together in one place, he was just too strong. Wasn't enough. I wasn't enough."

She reached for his hand and shivered as she realized how much weight he had actually lost. "That bad, hmmm?" Tony grinned at her and she shook her head. 

"I'm so glad we got you back. I didn't want you to think -"

"No, I know, Nat. I know."

"Are you hungry?"

"A little. What I need to do is to get up, can you push that wheelchair over here?"

"Yeah, sure." Nat got up and took her time bringing the wheelchair over to give Tony privacy to sit up, and push his legs over the side of the bed. She pushed it close and put the brake on, and without saying a word carefully lifted Tony into her arms, then settled him gently into the chair, and adjusted his legs for him.

"Thanks, Nat."

"I've got your back, Tony, always."

"I know you do, Nat. Let's go see what's burning in the kitchen."

"Right." Natasha moved to stand behind the chair, then grabbed the handles and pushed him out of the room and towards the kitchen only to find Steve blocking their way.

"Tony, we need to talk."


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you serious, Steve?" Natasha moves to stand between Tony, who is about to get to his feet and Steve who backs up a step. "Back the fuck off. He just got back."

"Three weeks ago - we've been trying to find him - I need your help, I need you to -"

Tony snorts and gently moves Natasha aside, and pushes himself to standing, then glares at Steve and growls out, "before you say another fucking word, Rogers, I needed you. I warned you, all of you, I wanted to build an armor around Earth..."

"We all know how that turned out -"

"You promised me, and I quote, 'we'll do it together, and if we lose we'll do that together too.' Remember that? But that didn't happen, did it? We lost. It wasn't even a fight. I got nothin for you, Steve, no plans, no strategies, nada, looks like we lived up to our name, we are the Avengers, after all, not the Pre-vengers -"

"Tony-" Nat begins as she touched his arm, afraid he might collapse.

"No. Liar. You're a liar, Rogers. Here," he rips off the arc reactor and presses it to Rogers' chest. "You do it. You hide. I'm finished." He falls back into the wheelchair and makes a move to push himself back to his room, but Natasha lays a hand on his shoulder, looks into his face and shakes her head. 

"I got your back, Tony, yeah?"

All he could do was nod as she pushes him back to his room, then shuts the door quietly and closes the blinds.


	4. “Constant use had not worn ragged the fabric of their friendship.”  ― Dorothy Parker

Nat knelt in front of Tony and waited for him to catch his breath. After a long ten count, he lifted his head and looked at her, and whispered, "sorry, that wasn't cool."

"You have nothing to apologize for. It's about time he heard that. He can't admit that we lost, and lost badly. I don't know if it would have made a difference if we had all been together, but we'll never know that."

Tony took a deep breath and grimaced as he let it out slowly. "Can you -?"

"Yeah." She stood up and gently helped him to his feet, and held him in her arms for a moment before lowering him onto the side of the bed. "Do you want me to get Pepper?"

He nodded, then whispered, "thank you, Romanov. I never thank you enough."

"Anytime, Stark." She smiled at him, then ruffled his hair and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

She walked over to Tony and Pepper's quarters and knocked on the door. "Pepper?"

"Nat? What's wrong, I thought I heard Tony -"

"He finally let Steve have it."

"Shit."

"No, it's good. Needed to happen. He wants you, if you're up to it."

"Yeah, thanks, Nat. Sorry for -

"Both of you need to stop apologizing already. I don't mind sitting with him, it's the most sleep I've had in years." She smiled at her, then left her to go to find Steve.

 

"Nat."

"Steve."

"Taking his side, now?"

"There should never have been sides."

"Nat -"

"This isn't about the Accords or even Bucky and you know it."

Steve crossed his arms at her and asked, "then what is it about?"

"You let him down, and you feel guilty."

"I was doing, what I thought -"

"was right. Yeah, I know. But it's time to understand his side, and let him go, Steve. We need to find a way to fix this without him this time. He's going to have a family, and he needs us to let him go."

Steve nodded. "Shit. I fucked up."

"Language, mister."

"Sorry, Nat."

"One day, you will apologize to him, when you know it's the right time, and when he's ready to accept it, right now, we have work to do, Cap."


End file.
